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2016 Supreme(All) 257
ALLAHABAD HIGH COURT
BEFORE : SUDHIR AGARWAL AND RAKESH SRIVASTAVA, JJ.
POWER GRID CORPORATION OF INDIA LTD. ....Appellant
Versus
JAGPAL SINGH AND OTHERS .....Respondents
(First Appeal Nos. 96, 74, 75, 77, 78, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 90, 92, 94, 95, 60, 62, 63, 64, 66, 68, 73, 76, 88, 93, 97, 98, 100, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 79, 72, 211, 236, 70, 99, 192, 208, 202, 194, 137, 196, 201, 190, 189, 206, 134, 235, 136, 71, 101, 198, 191, 193, 200, 195, 234, 220, 197, 204, 217, 140, 203, 218, 212, 219, 129, 205, 209, 210, 61, 67, 87, 65, 85, 119, 120, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 130, 131, 132, 133, 135, 139, 143, 146, 147, 148, 168, 164, 172, 152, 165, 163, 156, 158, 153, 169, 160, 157, 170, 173, 643, 632, 647, 648, 650, 641, 637, 638, 69, 86, 91 and 162 of 2005, decided on 22nd February, 2016)
Counsel :
Arvind Verma, Piyush Bhargava for the Appellant; Siddharth Verma, S.C. Gupta, V. Sahai, B. Dayal, Madan Mohan Chaurasiya, A.L. Jaiswal, Anita Srivastava, S. Singh, Ranjeet Saxena, Prant Mishra and S.P. Gupta for the Respondents.
Headnote:Land Acquisition Act, 1894 – Sections 54, 17(1), 6(1), 9 and 18 – Land Acquisition – Compensation – Determination of market value – Size of land constitute an important factor to determine market value – Land was situated in an area where overall development already existed – Acquired land has its approach directly from National Highway – Area of acquired land of majority of landowners is less than 2000 square meters – Application of single exemplar for purposes of determining market value may not be justified – Reference Court applied exemplar where sale of land relates to a sufficiently bigger piece of land i.e. 6000 square meters – Rejection of other exemplars which provided higher value of land only on the ground that the same pertain to small piece of land was unjustified – Court below also not examined implications of various development activities going on or existing in area where acquired land is situated – A uniform determination of market value of Rs. 131/- per sq. meter relying on a sale-deed which relates to 6000 sq. meter of land held not justified – Impugned awards set aside – Directions issued. [Paras 28 to 138]
Result; Appeals Allowed.
Act Referred
Hon’ble Sudhir Agarwal, J.—Heard Sri Arvind Verma, learned Senior Advocate, assisted by Sri Piyush Bhargava, Advocate, for appellants; and, Sri B. Dayal, Sri Madan Mohan, Sri Ranjeet Saxena and Sri S.C. Gupta, Advocates, for claimants.
2. All these appeals under Section 54 of Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (hereinafter referred to as the “Act, 1894”) have come up at the instance of defendant-Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the “PGCIL”) who has felt aggrieved by award/judgments dated 29th September, 2004 and 26th April, 2005, whereby Reference Courts have determined market value of acquired land at Rs. 131/- per square meter. All the appeals have arisen from award/judgment dated 29.9.2004 except First Appeals No. 632/2005, 637/2005, 638/2005, 641/2005, 643/2005, 647/2005, 648/2005 and 650/205 which have arisen from award/judgment dated 26.4.2005.
3. Some claimants/respondents have also filed Cross Appeals which we have detailed in a chart given at a later stage. Since, all these appeals and cross appeals have arisen from common acquisition proceedings and involve common issues, therefore, have been heard together and are being decided by this common judgment.
4. For the purpose of establishing 765/400/220 KV Transmission Sub-Station, PGCIL proposed to acquire more than 70 hectares of land in village ‘Mataur’ and ‘Samauli Salempur’, District Meerut. These two villages are adjacent to each other. Proceedings for acquisition of land, forcibly, were initiated under the provisions of Act, 1894. Notification under Section 4(1) read with Section 17(1) of Act, 1894 was issued on 13.2.1995 proposing to acquire 70.7562 hectares land (55.1754 hectares in village Mataur and 15.5840 hectares land in village Samauli Salempur). Notification under Section 6(1) read with Section 17(1) of Act, 1894 was published in Gazette dated 17.9.1995. Possession of acquired land was taken on 6.9.1996. The proposed acquisition included land in two villages of various Khasra numbers and areas, as detailed below :
Khasra No. meter)
Area (in Sq.No.
Khasra meter)
Area (in Sq.No.
Khasra meter)
Area (in Sq.
144
208
183
4110
184
160
187
1700
188
1976
189
908
190
1056
191
1810
192
1810
193
1030
194
1008
195
750
196
750
198
4536
199
4056
201
1660
202
1656
205
239
206
240
207
3886
208
2540
210
2590
211
1030
212
1030
213
1030
214
4059
215
4142
227
16
230
16770
233
1600
234
1620
235
2080
237
2090
238
2080
240
6610
241
6620
242
3106
243
3186
244
3186
247
5380
250
3640
251
2504
252
2744
253
264
255
3890
394
780
395
26960
396
1672
397
320
399
7800
401
1208
403
1700
Village - Samauli Salempur :
Khasra No. meter)
Area (in Sq.No.
Khasra meter)
Area (in Sq.No.
Khasra meter)
Area (in Sq.
144
208
183
4110
184
160
187
1700
188
1976
189
908
190
1056
191
1810
192
1810
193
1030
194
1008
195
750
196
750
198
4536
199
4056
201
1660
202
1656
205
239
206
240
207
3886
208
2540
210
2590
211
1030
212
1030
213
1030
214
4059
215
4142
227
16
230
16770
233
1600
234
1620
235
2080
237
2090
238
2080
240
6610
241
6620
242
3106
243
3186
244
3186
247
5380
250
3640
251
2504
252
2744
253
264
255
3890
394
780
395
26960
396
1672
397
320
399
7800
401
1208
403
1700
5. Notices under Section 9 were issued on 16.12.1995. Claimants-land owners filed objections claiming compensation at the rates, varying from Rs. 400/- to Rs. 1500/- per sq. yar
